Ceres Power demo fuels significant interest

By Chris Wills and John Bowker

LONDON (Reuters) - Ceres Power has received significant interest in its fuel cells for domestic boilers since demonstrating a pilot unit last month, Chief Executive Peter Bance said on Wednesday.

"We had approaches after the demonstration. We have had significant interest from as far away as Asia, the Pacific Rim, to North America as well as Europe," Bance told Reuters Smaller Companies Forum. "The pipeline of opportunities is building."

Ceres (CWR.L) is developing fuel cells for domestic boilers which produce electricity as well as heat for hot water and central heating, cutting domestic utility bills.

Ceres also claims the boilers could cut an average household's carbon footprint by around a half.

Ceres is targeting production of 1 million fuel cells a year, equivalent to 20,000 boilers, but Bance said that figure might have to be reviewed in light of the new interest.

"In the UK, 1.5 million gas boilers are installed each year, so in the UK alone the opportunity to go massively beyond 20,000 is already there," he said.

New interest has come from energy companies as well as housebuilders.

Ceres already has deals to develop a wall-mounted domestic unit with British Gas (CNA.L) and a back-up power system with French power group EDF (EDF.PA), which could be used in homes that suffer frequent power cuts.